All I can say about last weekend is: WOW! With so much focus this coming weekend on dealing with the aftermath of all of Week 6's upsets, here are 5 games that could still find themselves important in some way or another.
Washington State at Stanford
In all likelihood, CFP implications are probably at a minimum here. But this game does have the potential to set the ultimate direction for both teams. Washington State lost narrowly to Oregon and even more narrowly (and in much more heart-breaking fashion) to Cal. But the Cougars did beat Utah, and remain the Utes' only loss so far. If Wazzu can do it against a Cardinal team with 2 losses already - including a late-game heartbreaker against rival Notre Dame - I can easily see a change in trajectory for these two PAC-12 North teams.
Northwestern at Minnesota
Talk about dark-horse conference contenders! All of a sudden, 1-loss Minnesota's one loss isn't looking so bad at all (a convincing loss to TCU, but it looks like this Horned Frogs team could be quite good after all). Better yet: with a bye week following the Gophers' domination of Michigan, I suspect Jerry Kill & the boys have had enough time to enjoy the win and get down to business. Meanwhile, props to Pat Fitzgerald for getting the Wildcats going again! I think this game could hold some meaning in several respects: a Minnesota win helps legitimize TCU's non-conference schedule, a Northwestern win helps with 1-loss Cal's, and whomever wins will have a leg up in the Big Ten West.
Duke at Georgia Tech
Not too far off the radar, given the Yellow Jackets' undefeated record and shiny new ranking. 1990 was a special year for GT, who came out of nowhere to win the national title (complete with a 6-3 win over my Hokies...ah, the pre-Bowl Streak days). Obviously a long road still remains, but a 6-0 start would sure bring hope back to the Northwest corner of Atlanta. Interestingly, GT's fifth win (over Miami) gave Duke new life (the Hurricanes had beaten the Blue Devils the week before) - and a second chance to start their ACC season right. Even with Duke's magical 10-win ACC Coastal Championship season last year, they still came out on the short end of Paul Johnson's crew. Might that change this time around?
Miami (Ohio) at Akron
Not so much an interesting one on its own from a national standpoint, but it could be huge in the history of both of these programs (with a possible secondary effect on another). One week after breaking college football's longest current losing streak, Miami-O looks to take down a legitimate MAC contender and get a winning streak going. Meanwhile, for Akron, a chance to continue building to what could be their biggest season in school history. Only one conference championship, won in 2005, but no season with more than 7 wins since becoming the first team to move from Division 1-AA (FCS) to Division 1-A (now FBS) in 1987. On top of that, undefeated Marshall would love to claim Akron as a "good win" (Marshall def. Akron 48-17 in Week 4), should the Herd continue their poll competition with 1-loss East Carolina for the coveted "Group of Five" spot.
East Carolina at South Florida
Speaking of the Pirates, they find themselves traveling to USF as American Conference foes for the first time. Sharing a Skip Holtz past, I suspect the Pirates reflect more fondly of their "Skippy time" than the Bulls do. With ECU's history of winning against big teams then losing to should-beat conference teams, combined with USF's history of playing pretty well against ranked teams, this one could easily see itself going back and forth and down to the wire. CFP...New Year's Six at-larges...might as well throw the "Group of Five" into chaos as well!
No comments:
Post a Comment